European Convention on Human Rights

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Foreword

By Myroslava Gongadze

It is a sad truth of today’s world that the life of a journalist is often a dangerous one. We in the media hear daily reports of crimes against journalists, from intimidation to murder, and it is even harder when these are committed against our friends, family, and colleagues. A culture of impunity often obstructs our search for justice for these crimes and allows those responsible, whether they are state authorities or powerful elites, to block the people’s quest for the truth in the bloodiest of ways.

New
York, March 17, 2014--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a five-year jail term given today to Tofiq Yaqublu, an Azerbaijani journalist
with the opposition daily Yeni Musavat, and calls on authorities to
overturn the verdict on appeal. Yaqublu, who was convicted of "organizing
mass disorder," was arrested in January 2013
in connection with anti-government protests in the town of Ismayilli. He was
covering the protests at the time of his arrest, his colleagues said. The
journalist is appealing the verdict.

The European Court of Human Rights is a victim of its
success. In 2011, more than 60,000 people sought its help after exhausting all
judicial remedies before national courts. But now, some member states of the Strasbourg-based
Council of Europe are pushing for reforms of the prestigious institution and are
pointing at the number of cases to make their argument. Instead of enhancing
the court's capacity to deal with the backlog of cases, their moves would clip
the court's prerogatives and undermine a citizen's capacity to defend his most
fundamental rights.